Improvement in harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

lJOHN M. LONG, OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

Speciicaiion forming part of Leiters Patent No. 38,232, dated April 2l,ISGS; antedated.

December 4, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be known that I, JOHN M. LONG, of Hamilton, in the county of Butler andState of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Reaping andMowing Machines; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full,-clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings and letters of reference marked thereon, formingpart of this specification.

My invention relates to the class of reap-- ing and mowing machines inwhich the Yforward part of the machine is' supported and the machineguided by a pair of auxiliary wheels, which, for convenience, I shalldesignate pilot-wh'eels;7 and it consists in supporting the part thuscarried by the pilotwheels upon a pivotal bearing, whichpermits thepilot-wheels, when passing over uneven ground or obstructions in theirway, to adapt themselves to the same without affecting .thehorizontality of the machine or straining any part of the frame, thecenter or king bolt also having a construction adapted thereto, and theplates being made wi th si de bearings which eonne the vibration ofpilot-wheels within certain limits, as will hereinafter appear.

l. will now proceed to describe my invention, referring to the annexeddrawings, of which- Figure l is a vertical axial section, showing thecenter plates, center bearing, side bearings, and center bolt. Fig. 2 isa perspective view of the pilot-wheels, supporting the forward part of amachine, one of the pilotwheels beingI considerably elevated by anobstruction without affecting the horizontal position of the frame ofmachine.y

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in the different gnres.

A is the axle of pilot-wheels. a a are the pilot-wheels. B`representsthe machine, the forward part of the frame resting upon axle A ofpilot-wheels. C is the upper center plate, and D the lower center plate.E is the center bolt. rlhe center plates are made of cast metal. Thelower plate, D, is formed with a conical elevation, b, at the center,through the apex of which the center bolt, E, passes. At the oppositeextremities of D slight projections c are formed, which extend upward. dis a conical space under the center of D, which accommodates the head ofcenter-bolt, E. rlhe upper center plate, C, is circular, 4and is madewith a conical depression on the under side, which rests upon theconical projection b, and this constitutes the center bearing, the upperplate, C, being attached to frame B of the machine, and the lower plate,D, being secured to the center of axle A of the pilot-wheels, and thetwo plates being so adapted to each other that, within certain limits,the pilot-wheels may vibrate or adapt themselves to uneven groundwithout any resistance at the point of bearing or center. The head ofthe center bolt, as should be observed, has room in the space d toaccommodate the amount of vibration that is required; but should thelaterally-extended part of the machine, which carries the cutter-bar inmachines as ordinarily constructed, meet with. a resistance, and thuscause the pilot-wheels to be wrenched violently to one side, so as to,tend to overturn them, or should any other unusual occurrence tendingto produce the same result take pla-ce, then the outer extremity ofcenter plate D will encounter the under face of upper plate, (l, andrestrain the wheels from overturning or from being unduly thrown uptoward a vertical position.

It will be apparent that several modes of applying my invention may beemployed, all producing the same result in substantiallythe same manner.The relative position of the two center plates may be inverted. Theprojections c may be omitted, or other modifications may be made withoutmaterially affecting the result. K

The advantages of my invention will be sufficiently apparent to personsfamiliar with the operation of the kind of machines to which it applies.Its importance, however, will not be so obvious to others withoutconsidering that the pilot-wheels are connected by a very short axle, sothat a considerable vibration at the center is produced fromcomparatively slight inequalities of ground, and these occur soconstantly that before provision was made to accommodate them. as isdone by my invention, a considerable irregularity was communicated tothe frame'of the machine, and it was also exposed to a constant andtrying strain, rendering it after a short time loose-jointed and thevibratable center bolt, E, and outer bearshackly. ings, c c,substantially as described, and for JOHN M. LONG.

Having described my inventiomwhet I claim the purpose specified.v asnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following: lWitnesses:

Constructing the center plates, C and D, with :L central pivotalbearing, in combination with WM. CLoUGn, Gno. K. STILLMAN.

